Humbly they came before the tribunal, the leaders of the city's three public safety unions, making offerings.
The Fraternal Order of Police came first. It couldn't offer the Pittsburgh fiscal oversight board much. Police are getting by with fewer than 900 officers, down from more than 1,100 budgeted positions last year. Some answer calls in 15-year-old Chevy Luminas with more than 100,000 miles on the odometers, so they're not blowing money on equipment either. With crime going up, union President Michael R. Havens Jr. suggested that the city cut back on police command staff and apply for more state grants.
Next came the firefighters union. As befits the city's most prosperous and successful union, it brought props. President Joe King pointed to charts that promised the elimination of "21 real jobs per shift."
"These are Real Jobs, NOT vacant positions," was the promise made, fittingly, in red ink.
The department could downsize through attrition; some 426 firefighters are eligible for retirement (a revelation that led board Chairman Bill Lieberman to say the city's pension plan is in more trouble than the city.) But King also proposed going from 35 to 27 fire stations. Though his proposal includes the construction of three larger stations, the board was impressed.
Finally, came Jeff Vesci, president of the paramedics union. Vesci said there was no way a merger with the fire department would work. But if the city's three major hospitals took over management of emergency medical services, they would do better collecting the millions of dollars left on the table by the city's undermanned billing department.
Board members perked up. David O'Loughlin, who has spoken with officials at UPMC, said he was convinced the hospitals would take on this costly job tomorrow if they had some guarantee the city would not come back later seeking tax money, too. Lieberman thought it might cost the hospitals $5 million to $7 million to cover ambulance costs annually, but it was "a very real solution to a very significant problem." It's not something that the board can let "slip by if one [hospital] can't pay its share," he said.
When Vesci said his union would have no problem working with a hospital authority, it seemed as if a hospital takeover of EMS was ready to be wrapped and tied with a bow. Then I remembered that West Penn Allegheny and UPMC are generally about as ready to join hands as, well, paramedics and firefighters. But Lieberman said after the meeting that an authority could make this work, pro-rating costs to the hospitals based on where the ambulances went.
Representatives of the three major hospitals have met with Mayor Tom Murphy, who last week submitted yet another unbalanced budget that included cutting firefighting jobs and outsourcing paramedics. But it's clear that the city's elected representatives mean less now than this unelected board, which, until last week, wasn't even giving out its phone number. (Now you can call 412-288-3803)
While City Council diddles around, figuring out which pools it might fill with water this summer, this board swaggers toward big decisions. It might as well be in council chambers -- which it soon may be. Word is that the chambers and the city cable channel will be made available. That way, city residents might actually see who is determining how to spend their money. Or not spend their money. It won't be democracy, but it will look like it on TV.
None of this brings the city close to balancing its budget. The state needs to reform an antiquated tax structure, too. But this board and Murphy are all but whapping each other upside the head with incomplete work.
Murphy won't cede budgeting power to the board until it gives the Legislature a plan for fixing city finances. The board won't make its recommendations until Murphy hands over his clout.
Maybe all these meetings should be filmed with time-lapse photography, as on public TV with those flowers that spring up like kids hearing an ice cream truck. Not that the city has the money for that, unless it sells a Lumina.
First Published: May 16, 2004, 4:00 a.m.